Monday, May 14, 2007

Why Don't You Leave Your Name and Number and I'll Get Back To You?

You ever have one of those blogging days, when, despite there being no end of stories to tell and theories to expound and confessions to make, the muse just refuses to come sit with you and so you just end up staring at your computer screen, your mind blank and your fingers still?

Or maybe your fingers aren't still. Maybe you subscribe to that school of writing thought that says that even when uninspired you must still write just write just keep tap-tap-tapping at the keyboard until the sentences start running kind of like starting a stalled car by pushing it down a hill and pumping the gas until the motor kicks in and you're on your way or even if you're not on your way it doesn't really matter because at least you were writing and the important thing is to write write write and keep writing, right?

Except that that never really works, and you just end up producing bad stream-of-consciousness babble.

Or maybe you just keep starting sentences but inevitably end up backspacing to delete them because the full force of their mediocrity hits at, oh, about the second or third or fourth or - if you were maybe kinda onto something except that actually no you weren't - ninth word:

Yesterday, WonderBaby...(backspace-delete)

Mother's Day sucked because...

(backspace-backspace-delete)

Phallic Lovey is missing and all hell has broken loose and...(backspace-backspace-backspace-backspace-delete)

So maybe you've typed and deleted at least umpteen hundred words by now and are just feeling, like, blaaaah, yech, STUCK and need to bail on this whole writing thing for the day so that your head doesn't blow off and make a big icky mess that you're just going to have to clean up yourself anyway.

Ever have one of those days? I'm having one of those days. I had one of those days yesterday, too. I may have one again tomorrow. I'll let you know.

All lines to HBM's creative consciousness are currently disconnected. Please try again later.

Yes. This past week or two, I don't even have the brain power or energy to READ blogs, let alone write asnything decent on my own, and I feel terrible about all the people I normally leave nice comments for who are getting no kitten love these days. Sigh. Someday soon, I hope.

Totally with you -- all kinds of writing mean all kinds of writer's block.

One thing that's helped me is a switch of medium. I'll try writing longhand, or on post-it notes, or even dictating (I got one of those dictation programs -- the results have been pretty interesting). Change of locale sometimes helps me, too.

Wine, interestingly, helps me (for one glass) and then makes my blocks much, much worse (after the first glass).

I've been there too. On the other hand sometimes I'm amazed that I actually have things to write about when I'm spending the majority of my day changing diapers and cleaning high chair trays :) Love the picture!

I have a huge thank-you post to Lara and my other friends who gave me a very touching gift this weekend. And nothing coherent is coming out of my keyboard. So, I guess I'm writing about reality TV tonight instead.